TOM HOFFARTH: What's up with the Yasiel Puig backlash?

Isn't that kind of feisty arrogance you'd think someone would have needed if he was a Cuban refugee, seeking asylum and survival, suddenly put in the blinding spotlight in a new country, with a huge contract already signed, just playing a kid's game at the highest level as he was taught by his culture's heritage?

What has Puig done to become a pug?

Played harder than everyone else? Played the game with more enthusiasm than anyone else?

Played the game with more reckless abandon than anyone should?

Rubbed opponents, and maybe some teammates, the wrong way?

You've got to wonder what would happen if Larry Bowa was still on the Dodgers' bench as a coach trying to guide this unguided "El Cohete Cubano," otherwise known by his teammates as "Little League Puig."

Last year's MLB All-Star Game MVP, San Francisco's Melky Cabrera, ended up serving a 50-day PED suspension the second half of the season, knocking him off the playoff roster, knocking him out of contention for the NL batting title, and today he's on the Toronto Blue Jays' DL with tendinitis in his knees.

Four possible MLB All-Star Game MVPs for the 2013 game -- San Diego's Everth Cabrera, Texas' Nelson Cruz, Detroit's Jhonny Peralta and Oakland's Bartolo Colon -- are under the probe of the Biogenesis case that could result in multiple suspensions sometime later this month.

"I don't want to sound like it's a cop out, but once the game starts, and maybe (NL probable starting pitcher) Matt Harvey creates some electricity in the stadium -- how am I supposed to cram the Biogensis story into the game?" asked Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck. "I think it just ruins the feel of the game. There's been so much written about it. It's going to be a huge black mark and a major stain when it comes to pass. But isn't this a night to celebrate the game? I think hitting the people over the head with the Biogenesis story is out of place and something that probably doesn't belong in the game (narrative)."

Agree?

In the interest of global harmony, why wouldn't the most humane action involving the future of Metta World Peace start with amnesty?

Remember when the NFL made the exact same choice that Howard did, taking Houston and its $1 billion proposal over less-inspired L.A. pitches in 1999? The famous last words almost 14 years ago came from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: "A team needs to move to Los Angeles. We will have football in Los Angeles, and soon. What we did today will expedite that."